Halle: Roger Federer defeats Youzhny to win title

Roger Federer: Serve got him through. Picture: Getty

Federer walked down that alley a winner again yesterday, ending a 10-month run of 11 tournaments without a title – an eternity by his standards.

The 31-year-old Swiss overcame a sluggish start to beat unseeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 at the Gerry Weber Open and win his first title since Cincinnati in August.

Returning to grass in his favourite warm-up for Wimbledon, it took top-seeded Federer until the middle of the second set to come out of his lethargy and start hitting shots with confidence against a player he had never lost to in 14 previous career matches.

It was the first final on the tour this year involving players 30 or older.

“I’ve won a lot but not so much in the last 10 months, although I feel I’d been playing well,” Federer said.

“I was satisfied with my game. Maybe people thought I was playing badly but that was not the case.

“I was playing well but, when it mattered, the others were just better. Today it worked well.”

Federer earned his sixth title in Halle in 11 appearances (eight finals) and his first since 2008.

Four of Federer’s seven Wimbledon titles have come after triumphs in Halle – including his first Halle and Wimbledon championships in 2003.

The former top-ranked player, who is now No.3, won his 77th career title yesterday and has now moved level with John McEnroe in third position in the career titles list, behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Ivan Lendl (94).

Federer has now won an ATP title in 13 successive years, equal to Connors’ streak (1972-84). Only Lendl won a title 14 years in a row (1980-93)

The Swiss will be looking to add to his record 17 Grand Slam championships when he defends his title at Wimbledon.

Federer had beaten Youzhny in both last year’s semi-final in Halle and the quarter-final at Wimbledon, but it looked for a while that the Russian could have discovered a key to finally beating him – although he had to fend off four break points in the first game of his first career final on grass.

Youzhny, 30, saved another break point in the 11th game, but he had the Swiss on the defensive and Federer saved a set point in the next game before holding serve to go into the tiebreaker. An error by Federer gave Youzhny a set point and the Russian put away a volley winner to go ahead.

Federer finally started finding his range and went up when Youzhny double-faulted at break point in the eighth game, which proved the turning point.

The Swiss hit a perfect backhand passing shot to go up 4-3 in the third, held for 5-3 with a smash and fired a service winner to seal his victory over Youzhny after two hours and two minutes.

Federer has a big following at the Halle tournament and the fans gave him a standing ovation, while his wife Mirka let out a sigh of relief while keeping an eye on their twin daughters.

“The difference was that he was better today – he’s been better all his life,” Youzhny said, referring to his lifelong losing streak against Federer.

Federer, who finished the final with 12 aces, said that his serve had kept him in the match.

“The first set was very close – it could have gone either way,” he said.

“I had to fight very hard to stay in the second – my serve saved me today. At the end I was just a bit steadier,” he added.